Redbox plans first big videogame test
Company will experiment with combo and game-only kiosks
By Susanne Ault -- Video Business, 5/29/2009
MAY 29 | PHYSICAL: Kiosk operator Redbox has hired its first senior level videogames executive and plans its first large test of videogame rentals this summer.
“Our customers and retail partners have been really clamoring for video games, and Redbox is responding,” said Mark Achler, who recently joined Redbox as VP of video games. “We are very actively engaged in putting out a video game offering. There are changing demographics, where we see the casual market continuing to open as more women become involved.”
He declined to discuss whether Redbox would extend its $1 per night pricing, which is popular with consumers but not title suppliers, to games. It’s expected that Redbox will try a variety of price points, and that it may also test game sales and trade-ins through the kiosks.
Achler said that Redbox will experiment with two types of kiosks: one will be similar to its current DVD machine but offer both movies and videogames, while the other will hold videogames exclusively. The title selection will span most of the consoles, including Wii, Playstation 3 and the Xbox 360.
This test will span a couple of markets, crossing various retailers and covering most machines in those cities. Last year, Redbox dabbled in some game rental, but it considers this effort to be its most comprehensive.
“We think rental really has an opportunity to grow and lift the whole video game sector,” said Achler.
Blockbuster and others will challenge Redbox in kiosk rentals of videogames.
Blockbuster CEO Jim Keyes said at the company’s shareholders meeting last week that it, in partnership with NCR, will have about 3,000 kiosks in place by the end of the year. The Blockbuster Express machines will have about double the physical capacity of a Redbox machine, will allow for both rentals and purchases of DVDs and videogames, and will eventually be retrofitted to allow for content downloads, Keyes said.
Redbox also faces a challenger in e-Play, which recently began testing self-service kiosks that allow for videogame rentals and trade-ins as well as DVD rentals in 77 Wal-Mart stores in the Northeast. The e-Play kiosks, branded in Wal-Mart’s trademark blue and gold colors, are mostly in stores that do not have Redbox kiosks.
Redbox does have its DVD rental kiosks in several thousand Wal-Mart stores.
e-Play, which is minority-owned by NCR, also has agreements to operate DVD-trading machines n GameStop and Dollar Tree stores.
